The Transformation and Purpose of Capital

How did we come to separate our understanding of economic/financial value from social/environmental value? How did we come to think of ourselves as being separate from our neighbors, community and planet? By crafting a new, holistic understanding of ourselves and our relationship to one another, we are able to approach a deeper, more significant understanding of the purpose of capital, which may then anchor our definition of the purpose of capital, how we understand the nature of returns (both financial and extra-financial) and a deeper understanding of the meaning of money.

In a fireside chat, Donna Morton and Jed Emerson will explore these ideas—history and culture—connecting those within the current trend toward impact investing and sustainable finance as vehicles to generate financial returns with social and environmental impacts and the creation of a more just world for both human and nonhuman communities. The audience will come away with a new mindset for a future that is clean, just and regenerative for people and planet. Asking new questions—how can the people left out of the economy become our greatest assets—financial activism could unite Occupy and Wall Street, the 99 and the 1 percent. Movements such as Black Lives Matter, sanctuary cities, intersectional feminism and climate justice are the edges and opportunities for finance. Beyond divestment, the speakers will discuss moving finance from harm to healing.

This program contains explicit language

Speakers

Jed Emerson

Strategic Advisor; Senior Research Fellow, University of Heidelberg’s Center on Social Investing

Donna Morton

Director of Impact, LumenFarm

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